It didn’t take Dave Lawson to describe what Alabama’s getting in softball star Ambrey Taylor.
“A winner,” the Curry High School coach said of the Crimson Tide signee.
The winning this season came on and off the field this season for Taylor, who was named Miss Softball during Sunday’s Alabama Sports Writers Association banquet in Jacksonville.
She is the second player from Curry to be named Miss Softball, joining 2016 honoree and former Auburn pitcher Ashlee Swindle.
Hewitt-Trussville shortstop Steele Hall was named Mr. Baseball and the ASWA honored Fruitdale’s Sid Hobbs with the Jimmy Smothers Courage Award during the banquet.
Lawson knew Taylor had the potential to be a special player when she came up as a seventh-grader.
“To watch her grow and mature into not only a great softball player, but a great person and a great leader,” Lawson said, “she’s been the leader of this team for years, and to see everything come full circle for her and to get the recognition she deserves, I’m at a loss of words. People don’t say that about me very much.
“She’s just everything that you would want as a player.”
A “special” career may be just the tip of the iceberg for Taylor.
She will go down as the AHSAA record holder in career doubles (138) and holds the Curry program records in almost every offensive category, including career hits (416), runs scored (382), home runs (74) and RBIs (376).
As for her impressive senior season for the Class 4A runner-up Yellow Jackets, she piled up 34 doubles and 26 home runs while driving in 100 batters to go along with a .597 batting average and a 1.267 slugging percentage.
Along with being named Miss Softball, Taylor was claimed Class 4A Player of the Year and landed a spot on the Super 10, which recognizes the top 10 players in the state regardless of position or classification.
If one thing set Taylor apart during her record-setting career with the Yellow Jackets, Lawson pointed to one thing: she’ll do whatever it takes to win.
The standout player also helped lead Curry to a Class 4A state softball championship in 2022, along with multiple trips to the AHSAA state softball tournament.
“Plain and simple, whatever it takes to win,” the Curry coach said of Taylor’s work ethic.” You can put her anywhere on the field you want to put her, except in the circle. But, when I first got her seventh, eighth and ninth grade, she did pitch a little bit. But, anywhere you want her.”
Signed with Alabama, Taylor is part of a loaded Crimson Tide signing class that also includes in-state standouts Holly Beth Brooks (Tuscaloosa County), Gerritt Griggs (Central-Phenix City) and Vic Moten (Daphne), who won Miss Softball in 2024.
With talent and her mindset blended together, Lawson knows Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy and company will be getting a special player in the dugout at Rhoads Stadium next season.
“It’s a couple of things: No. 1 is work ethic, she’s done that ever since I’ve known her,” Lawson said. “No. 2 is the support system she has at home with her family, and also at the school: everybody’s supported her in the community.
“All of that summed up into one perfect package, that’s Ambrey Taylor.”
2025 ASWA Super All-State Softball
Ambrey Taylor, Curry (Miss Softball)
Gerritt Griggs, Central-Phenix City
Gracie Dees, Saraland
KG Favors, Orange Beach
Vic Moten, Daphne
Emily Needham, Saint James
Corey Goguts, Hewitt-Trussville
Lilly Bethune, West Limestone
Ava Hodo, Orange Beach
Kendall Trimm, Moody
ASWA Miss Softball Winners
2025: Ambrey Taylor, Curry
2024: Vic Moten, Daphne
2023: Ryley Harrison, Fairhope
2022: Kenleigh Cahalan, Hewitt-Trussville
2021: Annabelle Widra, Spain Park
2020: No award because of COVID-19 Pandemic
2019: Libby Baker, G.W. Long
2018: Leanna Johnson, Brantley
2017: Annie Willis, Westminster Christian
2016: Ashlee Swindle, Curry
2015: Lacey Sumerlin, Baker
2014: Madi Moore, Winfield
2013: Kasey Cooper, Dothan
2012: Haylie McCleney, Mortimer Jordan
2011: Shelby Holley, Pisgah
2010: Leigh Streetman, Hueytown
2009: Hilary Phillips, Ider
2008: Lindsey Dunlap, Hueytown
2007: Whitney Larsen, Vestavia Hills
2006: Anna Thompson, Grissom
